Aside from being head football coach, Martin says he'll coordinate special teams at New Mexico State

LAS CRUCES - Doug Martin sat back in his office chair with his legs crossed, hands resting on head. The blinds to the big window in back of the room, with a view of the Organ Mountains, were open. And he discussed coaching New Mexico State's special teams units in 2013, in addition to being head football coach of the Aggies.

Aside from special teams being an important aspect of a given football game - which he listed as the No. 1 reason behind his motivation to run the unit - Martin said, "As a head coach .... I want to be involved with the players and actually coach. I don't want to just walk around the field and watch. I'm paid to coach, and that's what I want to do."

Martin said he has experience coaching special teams, dating back to his first full-time college coaching job at East Tennessee State, where he was in fact hired as special team's coordinator in 1988.

Upon being hired at East Carolina University in 1992, Martin said he was tight ends coach and special teams coordinator for close to five years. And as head coach at Kent State from 2004-10, while Martin in fact had an assistant coach dedicated to special teams, he said "I've always kind of had my hand in that part of the game."

"I like that part of the game and think I can make a difference there," he said.

While a head coach also coordinating special teams isn't necessarily common in college football, it wouldn't be considered unique either.

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It's done elsewhere, with Martin pointing to Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech as a good example of such a coach.

"You look at how he built that football program, a lot of it was built on special teams. And it was built because he's the special teams coordinator," Martin said. "They've led the nation in blocked kicks year, after year, after year. It's important there because his name's on it."

Martin said he wants to put his "best players on special teams."

"I want guys that can go out there and make plays," he said.

Years past at New Mexico State has shown how special teams can determine a handful a games in a given season.

Just think back to the past two seasons: In 2011, while the Aggies were largely poor in the special teams department, return-man Taveon Rogers was a standout. In games where Rogers brought back a kick for a touchdown, NMSU held a 2-1 record (a year in which the Aggies had four wins total).

While NMSU's kick-coverage units improved in 2012, its punt-return game was dreadful, averaging just 1.2 yards on 12 returns all season (a statistic that ranked No. 119 out of 120 college football teams, according to the website ncaa.com). Not surprisingly, that particular unit - which also suffered some muffed punt returns and turnovers - hurt the Aggies in a couple losses during their 1-11 campaign.

"Special teams is an area where you can win football games, and you can lose football games, very quickly," Martin said. "Sometimes it's really hard to get your players to buy into just how important that is. When the head coach is involved in the special teams, particularly when he takes initiative to coordinate it himself, you instantly get the players involved."

Teddy Feinberg can be reached at (575) 541-5455. Follow him on Twitter @TeddyFeinberg